Region: Santa Barbara, California

Vintage: 2019

Composition: 100% Pinot Noir

History: After completing an informal internship with the legendary Jim Clendenen of Au Bon Climat, Paul Lato began making his own wine at Central Coast Wine Services, an incubator of numerous talents over the years. Then, as he puts it, “Robert Parker, by a stroke of luck, tasted my 2002 vintage about a year and a half after it was made. The wine was bottled, but I didn’t have a label or a name for my cellar.” Then Parker, who tasted both Pinot Noir and Syrah, looked at me and said, “You have real talent. Hurry up with those names, I want to be the first to write about you.”

Tasting Notes:

“Beautiful to look at in the glass with a deep, dark ruby core with a neon purple rim that offers fantastic notes of boysenberry jam, cedary herbs, toasted cinnamon stick, black fresh cherry, and Mexican chocolate. It’s rich and fruity on the palate, ending clean and dry.” – Jeremy Young